


The Hogwarts Outcasts and the Library of Truth

by Excaliblizzard



Series: The Hogwarts Outcasts (Rewriting the Cursed Child) [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Thorne & Rowling
Genre: Auror Harry Potter, F/F, F/M, Healer Draco Malfoy, M/M, Minister for Magic Hermione Granger, Non-Binary Teddy Lupin, Scorbus
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-07-06
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:34:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24986881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Excaliblizzard/pseuds/Excaliblizzard
Summary: The 19 Years Later Story that we all deserve but never got. I'm rewriting the Cursed Child so that Albus, Scorpius, and the rest of their friends and family can have their years at Hogwarts full of mystery.In this story, after landing in detention the first few days into their first year, the gang discovers something that will send themselves on their own quest against the forces of evil.
Relationships: Angelina Johnson/George Weasley, Astoria Greengrass/Draco Malfoy, Audrey Weasley/Percy Weasley, Fleur Delacour/Bill Weasley, Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Luna Lovegood/Rolf Scamander, Scorpius Malfoy/Albus Severus Potter
Series: The Hogwarts Outcasts (Rewriting the Cursed Child) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808692
Comments: 18
Kudos: 104





	1. Chapter 1: All Was Well?

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the rights to the Cured Child

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus Severus Potter is the son of the famous Harry and Ginny Potter. After seeing all of his older cousins have their first day of Hogwarts, it is finally his turn. Things don't always go as planned when he finds a shy boy sitting by himself on the train and the two instantly become best friends. But why does he seem so familiar, and why does Rose always glare at him?

“But what if I am put in Slytherin?”

“Well then Slytherin House will have gained an excellent student, won’t it!”

All Albus could do in that moment was nod in agreement. No member of the Weasley family had ever been sorted into Slytherin, and he certainly didn’t want to draw attention to himself more than being the middle child of Harry and Ginny Potter already did.

He could already see that families all around them were staring. Albus wanted to say that he was used to it by now, but he would be lying to himself if he said that. Why couldn’t people mind their own business? Parents had their own children to send off to school, yet half of them were gawking at the famous Harry Potter and his son, so much so that a girl nearly drove her trolley off the nearby track and a toddler almost face planted into a platform wall whilst being dragged by the hand of a distracted mother. He would have hoped that after his older brother, James, attended Hogwarts two years earlier people would stop caring so much, but after finding his family the stars of the Daily Prophets gossip column at least twice a week, the staring continued. 

Harry gave his son a tight squeeze before quickly turning him around and placing both of his hands on Albus’s shoulders. 

“Nervous?” His father smirked.

“Terrified, I think”.

“Albus Severus Potter, just know whatever happens; Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, even if you decide to ditch school and frolic with Crumple-Horned Snorkacks,” his son snorted, “we will always love you for being yourself”. 

“I think you’ve been spending too much time with Luna, dad” Albus laughed.

“Crumple-Horned Snorkacks are very real,” his father said sarcastically, “at least that’s what I read in her book I found at Hermione’s house”.

With those words, the train whistle blew, signaling for all the students that they had five minutes to climb aboard. Out of the corner of his eye, Albus could see his brother James giving his mother a secretive kiss on the cheek before he began to board the train with his cousin and best friend, Fred. 

“This way. I think it’s this way”.

“Dad,” Albus’s cousin, Molly huffed, “we already went this way!”

“No. No” Uncle Percy said, rushing around the platform frantically with Molly following close behind him. “I specifically remember we were heading towards the front of the train, and now we’re heading towards-

“The front of the train”. 

“Yes, because when I was a Prefect, the Prefect’s car was at the front of the train”.

“It’s not at the front of the train anymore!” Molly sighed, “That’s what I’ve told you three times!”

“They can’t just change where the Prefect’s car is! When I was a Prefect…”

Percy’s wife, Audrey chuckled as she watched her oldest daughter follow her father. 

“I’m never becoming a Prefect,” said her sister, Lucy, before she began to board the train as well.

“I’ll write to you tonight” Albus said as he heaved his extra luggage into his arms.

“And we will send three times as many back” joked his mother, Ginny. “Maybe even a howler like the one Uncle Ron got!”

Uncle George burst out laughing along with his wife, Angelina, causing many rushing students around them to stare.

“If you embarrass my favorite nephew-“ Ron cut in, his face matching the color of his hair slightly out of embarrassment from his second year at Hogwarts. 

“Trust me, Ron, I would never let that happen to him” Harry laughed. Ginny turned back to her son and hugged him tight and kissed him on the cheek. “My goodness, you’re growing up so fast!”

“Mum!” Albus cried, wiping the spit off his face.

“It seems like just yesterday Vic was off to her first year at Hogwarts” Uncle Bill cut in as he waved off his eldest daughter as she appeared from the window of the Prefects car, “now she’s Ravenclaw’s Head Girl”. 

“First seventh year out of all of them” Aunt Audrey interjected, “other than Teddy”.

“I heard from Jamie that Teddy and Victorie are dating now!” George said with a wink, “looks like we have our first official couple in the family”.

“They are a nice kid,” Fleur said smiling, “as long as she is happy”. 

Ron and Aunt Hermione also gave their daughter Rose her last few hugs. 

“Are you sure you didn’t forget socks?” Hermione said as she surveyed Rose’s pile of luggage being lifted onto the train. “I always forget socks”.

“I have socks, mum” her daughter protested.

“Do you have enough parchment? What about quills?”

“You made me pack at least fifty of each. I think I’ll be fine. I mostly use pencils anyway”.

“Where’s your cat?”

“Mum, he’s already on the train”.

“Rosie’s going to be brilliant at Hogwarts, Mione” Ron said, attempting to calm down his wife, when he himself was very much nervous as well. “She’s going to beat out the little Malfoy in all of her classes. She inherited her mother’s brains after all”.

Ron gave his daughter another hug. “What about money for sweets?” he whispered. “You could get hungry on the way there”.

“Not you too, dad!” Rose said, rolling her eyes.

Hermione was attempting to inconspicuously wipe away tears of pride forming in her eyes at the thought of sending her first child off to Hogwarts.

“Is that the Minister of Magic! Crying! At a train station!” Ron jested at his wife as he held his son, Hugo’s, hand.

“Oh stop it, Ronald!” Hermione said sharply as she smacked her husband on the arm.

“I’ll be fine, mum” Rose protested through her parent’s usual bickering. “We won’t even make it to Hogwarts if we don’t board the train!” Rose huffed as she and Albus struggled to escape the attack of embraces from their family.

“Right” Hermione swallowed as she straightened out Rose’s hair with her fingers.

After one last hug and a kiss from his mother and father, Albus Potter took his first shaking step onto the gleaming Hogwarts Express. Looking back at his family, he saw a chaotic mess of people who all loved each other. All of them were waving frantically at the two of them through the steam floating onto the platform. As Albus caught one last look at his parents, he could see them both smiling at him, proudly, making his heart swell. 

The feeling was automatically ruined once seeing his younger sister, Lily stamping her feet.

“It’s not fair!” She huffed. “I want to go to Hogwarts!”

Harry laughed. “You need to wait just like everyone else, Lil”.

“But that’s two years away!”

Albus snickered at the predictable response from his little sister, until he felt a sharp tug on his sleeve that nearly sent him falling to the floor.

“Do you want to fall off the train, Albus?” said Rose, “we need to find a compartment.”

“Alright then let’s find a compartment” Albus complained as Rose threw open a compartment door, which held James, Fred, and a bunch of other Gryffindors all huddled around a box of Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes.

“Al, go to the first year car!” James shouted as he and his friends quickly hid the joke shop goodies and shut the door.

“Nice big brothering” Albus mumbled under his breath.

“Come on, I think the first year car is this way” Rose ordered as she continued to drag Albus down the thin corridor by the sleeve of his shirt as they weaved between the maze of students also trying to find a seat.

“I’m already following you!” Albus whined. “Once we get there we can find an empty compartment and-“

“We can’t just join an empty compartment!” Rose gasped.

“Why not?” Albus scoffed sarcastically as he tried to worm his way out of Rose’s tight grip.

“Think about it! Our dads both became best friends on the train to Hogwarts. I don’t know about you, but I for one want to make friends at Hogwarts”.

“I’m your friend”. 

“Cousins don’t count as friends” Rose laughed as she came to a stop at the first year section of the train.

“Yes they do” Albus protested.

Rose smirked, “if that’s true, then we’ll be the most popular students in our year”. 

“I think that’s already guaranteed, considering who our parents are”.

Albus and Rose gave each other a knowing look before opening the first compartment door, only to find it already full with other first years.

“I knew we should have gotten on the train earlier!” Rose sounded defeated.

“You know that there is more than one compartment, Rosie”.

“Oh, be quiet!” Rose bickered, sounding exactly like her mother.

Albus and Rose traveled down the line of compartments. They found that the first three were expectedly all full and some were locked from the inside. Upon trying their sixth or seventh door, Albus was surprised to find that the compartment only contained one person surrounded by huge piles of books on the seats and floor.

“Oh!” cried the boy as he looked up from his book. “I’m sorry, I’ll get out”.

“No,” said Albus, “you’re fine. Rose and I were just looking for a place to sit”.

“Well, there’s room in here” he said shyly. He then noticed the books littering the compartment. “Sort of”.

“Are you waiting for any friends? If so, we can find somewhere else”.

“It’s just me,” the boy said sadly, eyes glued to the floor

“Oh,” Albus gasped, shocked that the boy was planning to sit all by himself for the entirety of his first train ride to Hogwarts. “Do you mind if we…”

The boy's eyes went wide as a smile spread across his face. “Not at all,” he said excitedly, shuffling around to clear his massive pile of books off the seat to make space for them to sit.

Albus smiled back as he sat with his extra bag on the seat opposite the boy and sandwiched between the window and a stray copy of Bernadette Chanting’s Sonnets of a Sorcerer.

“I’m Albus”. 

“Ya,” the boy said. His eyes suddenly went wide in embarrassment as his ears became pink against his pale hair. “I mean, I already know who you are”.

“I figured” Albus huffed.

“I'm sorry, I didn’t mean for that to sound rude”.

“No,” Albus laughed, “It’s alright. Everyone knows who my parents are so I guess I’m a celebrity by association”.

“How can you be a celebrity if you haven’t done anything, though?” the boy asked.

Albus barked out a laugh at the boy’s comment. The other boy looked as if he was scared that he offended Albus in some way, but soon found himself letting out a loud snort of a laugh, which only caused the both of them to laugh harder. 

Usually, when people met Albus, they would comment about how much he’s like his father, or how much of a fan they are of his father, or how they want to thank him since his father defeated the darkest wizard who ever lived. The list of reasons why people wanted to meet him didn’t seem to grow with the more people he was introduced to. This boy, however, didn’t appear to mind the fact that Albus was the son of the famous Harry Potter. His nervous personality seemed to stem from the fact that he might have not really known how to talk to other people.

“Albus” Rose hissed from the compartment door. He had completely forgotten that his cousin was still there.

“What?” Albus questioned. “Aren’t you going to sit down?”

Rose looked from Albus, to the other boy, to Albus again as if she were reading lines from a book.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” the boy said, looking disappointed again “I understand”.

“Understand what?” Albus asked, “Is it because of the books, because I think I can move some onto the ground-”

“No, it’s because of me,” the boy said, staring at his expensive shoes once more.

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” Albus interjected. “Unless you count overpacking books as a crime”.

The boy smiled softly, but his eyes still looked hurt.

“Do you really not know who he is, Albus?”

Albus looked at the blonde boy curiously. He seemed like a fairly normal kid, but he did appear oddly familiar. Albus couldn’t quite remember where he had seen that face before.

“Should I?”

“It’s only fair that you know who I am, since I know who you are,” the boy said, his entire body tensing up. “I’m Scorpius Malfoy”.

The tension in the compartment could be cut with a sword. Rose stood with her body fully outside the compartment, as if just entering the room would turn her into a Death Eater.

“That’s where I recognize you from!” Albus shouted, “You look just like your dad”.

Scorpius let out a sigh of relief. “I haven’t really heard that before, actually”.

“Albus!” Rose whisper-shouted

“What!”

“There’s a rumor that he’s actually the son of Voldemort.”

Albus laughed. “That sounds stupid, look he has a nose”

“I do” Scorpius chuckled as he touched his own nose.

“Don’t tell me you actually believe a rumor like that, Rose!” Albus scoffed.

“Of course I don’t! You know how much the Prophet likes to embellish.”

Scorpius seemed taken aback by what Rose had said. “Thank you” he said shyly.

“Then what’s the problem?” Albus asked.

“His father is Draco Malfoy. The same Draco Malfoy that bullied our parents in school. He’s a Death Eater!”

“He never wanted to be a Death Eater,” Scorpius said boldly before he sank back into his seat “and he isn’t one anymore” he whispered.

“Kids aren’t always like their parents, Rose” said Albus. “Us of all people know what it’s like to always be compared to ours”

Roes rolled her eyes “I would say that it was a pleasure to meet you, Malfoy, but we really need to be going”

She made another attempt to grab him by the arm, but Albus was determined to remain firmly in his seat.

“I think I’m going to stay”

Rose looked shocked, she leaned in closer to Albus so she could whisper under her breath.

“I assume that the rumors are all made up by the Prophet, but if you become friends with him no one else will want to be friends with you"

"But he seems nice!"

"His dad is Draco Malfoy!"

“All of the things that happened between our parents happened ages ago before we were even born. If Scorpius says that his father is a good person now, then I believe him”.

Rose looked shocked, but defeated. She shot a questionable glare in Scorpius’ direction as she began to turn away from the compartment. 

“No offense, but a Potter-Malfoy friendship is never going to last. 

“I’ll take my chances,” Albus defended.

With those words, Rose rolled her eyes one last time and closed the compartment door, leaving the two boys alone in the small room of the train.

“Um, thank you,” Scorpius said. “You didn’t have to stick up for me”.

“Of course I did. Rose was being stupid”.

“She didn’t seem stupid to me” Scorpius said, eying the compartment door as if Rose would reappear any second and try to drag him to Azkaban.

“Don’t let her hear you say that, ” Albus laughed, “her ego is already big enough as is”.

Maybe it was because Scorpius knew what it was like to have a famous, or in his case infamous, parent that made conversation with him come so easily.

“What’re you reading?” Albus asked, gesturing to the book in Scorpius’s lap.

“Oh,” Scorpius said, picking up the forgotten book and looking at the cover. “It’s The Invisible World of Creatures Hidden in Plain Sight. It’s by Luna Lovegood. She’s one of my favorite magizoologist. It’s a tie for first place between her and Newt Scamander. Did you know that her husband is his grandson?”

Scorpius must have noticed that he was rambling because he immediately stopped talking.

“I did actually” Abus said, “I just had tea with her and her family last weekend”.

“Really?” Scorpius gasped, his eyes somehow growing even wider than the excitement he portrayed when talking about his book. “Are you joking, because I can’t really tell if you’re being sarcastic or not”.

“I'm serious!” Albus defended.

“Sirius Black? I thought you were Albus”.

Albus laughed. “Look who’s the one being sarcastic, now”.

Scorpius smiled at his new-found friend. There was a knock on the compartment door, which Albus answered.

“Anything from the trolley?” the trolley witch asked politely in her sing-songy voice.

“I’ll have a Chocolate Frog,” Albus requested, pulling a few sickles from his jacket pocket.

“Anything for you dear?” she asked Scorpius.

“May I please have Chocolate Frogs as well? Also licorice wands, and also a sugar quill. Oh and the Bertie Botts”.

The trolley witch stared at Scorpius in amusement before attempting to gather everything for his tall order. “Will that be all?”

“Oh, wait. Are those Fizzing Whizzbees? I’ll have one of those as well, please”.

“Someone’s got a sweet tooth” the trolley witch chuckled as she added Scorpius’ box of Fizzing Whizzbees.

“I’m sorry,” Scorpius said, “I really love sweets”.

“It’s quite alright deary,” she replied “it’s what I’m here for”.

“Why do you keep apologizing?” Albus asked after Scorpius paid for his sweets and was already sucking on a sugar quill before the trolley witch even left.

“I don’t know,” Scorpius said, coughing slightly as he choked on a mouthful of sugar, “I’m sorry”.

Albus raised his eyebrow at him playfully.

“I mean-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I’m so-wait!”

“Scorpius!” Albus cackled with laughter, “It’s fine”.

Scorpius laughed as well. “I guess I’ve always felt like I was inconveniencing other people”.

“Why, though?” Albus gasped, “you’re so polite”.

“People don’t really think that. They only see that I’m a Malfoy and assume the worst”.

Albus nodded. “I get that. Since my dad did great things, everyone expects me to be great at everything just like him”.

“He’s not evil, you know”.

“You’re dad?” Albus asked.

“Ya. He’s the best dad there is. He tried working at the Ministry like my grandfather did, but found it really boring. He’s a healer now. So is my mum”.

“Wow, your parents sound great”.

Scorpius let out a sad sigh through his nose. “You seem to be the only one that thinks so. My dad says that since he felt he caused so much pain to others during the war, the least he can do today is try to save people who need help”.

Albus could see the grin appear more on Scorpius’s face as he talked about his family. He couldn’t really see why anyone would think that this polite, shy boy was the son of Voldemort.

“But enough about our parents,” Scorpius said, digging through his pile of sweets, “I want a Chocolate Frog”.

Both of the boys happily opened their boxes of sweets. Just with Albus’s luck, the charm on his Chocolate Frog was very strong, causing the enchanted candy to slip right between his fingers. It would have jumped right out the window if Scorpius had not closed it in time. Scorpius, on the other hand, having a great collection of Chocolate Frog cards at home, had no trouble with his, other than the fact that the chocolate was now slightly melted. Meanwhile, Albus was on his hands and knees trying to find his frog under the seat. He stopped his search when he heard Scorpius snicker.

“What is it?” Albus asked, returning to his seat, his run-away Chocolate Frog forgotten.

Scorpius showed him his Chocolate Frog card. “I got Albus Dumbledore”.

“I can’t get away from him!” Albus barked.

He then found his own forgotten Chocolate Frog box and pulled the card out from the bottom of it. There, surrounded by a tiny, golden frame was the face of his father, staring back at him. Famous lightning scar and all.

He had always been told by others that he looked like his father, but he really didn’t see why because he figured James looked much more like him than he did. He was the only one out of his siblings to not inherit his hair color from either of his parents. James inherited his dad’s messy, jet-black hair, and Lily carried on the famous Weasley-red. His own hair was brown. There was once a point in Albus’s life when he thought that he might have been adopted because of this, but was proven wrong once his father showed him a picture of his own parents. Harry had always said that Albus looked more like the original James Potter than he did, but Albus hadn’t really believed it until that moment. Harry had then pointed to his mother, Lily, and told him that everyone had always told him that he had had his mother’s eyes. This was when Albus realized that he too had inherited Lily’s striking green eyes, which was the one thing that set him apart from his siblings.

“Who’d you get?” Scorpius asked. He had already finished his Chocolate Frog and was now strategically inspecting a box of Bertie Botts Every-Flavor Beans.

Albus turned the card around so that Scorpius could see. “Speaking of, I can’t get away from him…” 

“He is one of the most popular cards,” Scorpius said, trying to cheer him up, “I’ve probably got at least a hundred of him”.

“Well now it’s a hundred and one,” Albus sighed, handing the Harry Potter card to Scorpius, “I’ve got the real one at home, which is more than enough”.

***

Albus wasn’t sure how the topic had changed from Hogwarts classes they were most excited about (Albus’s being Flying and Scorpius’s being Charms), but the two had found themselves chatting about their favorite Quidditch teams until the sun began turn red behind the rolling hills off in the distance. 

“Lily kept trying to sneak away during the match so she could meet the players,” Albus said, in the middle of his story of his family’s trip to that year's Quidditch World Cup. “I swear the Prophet had a field day when they saw her strutting around the stadium with my father's stolen wand”.

Albus felt a bit as if he was talking too much about his family, but Scorpius didn’t seem to mind. He said that he had no siblings of his own, and found Albus’s stories about his brother and sister very amusing.

"I don't know why she was so determined to get to them. We already know most of them since my mum was Chaser for the Holyhead Harpies".

“Your family seems like so much fun,” Scorpius said, his face twitching slightly at the cricket flavored Bertie Bott he had mistaken for cinnamon, “I can’t imagine what it’s like to have such a big family”.

“You won’t be thinking they're fun when James finds out you're my friend and uses you as another test subject for his pranks”.

Scorpius had to smile again. He had never really had a friend close to his age before. His family was very small. Since the war, Draco Malfoy had found himself not accepted by either side. The Order of the Phoenix wanted to send him to Azkaban for being a Death Eater, but his mother somehow convinced them not to after he had saved Harry Potter’s life. Harry had even testified, proving that Mrs Malfoy was telling the truth. The ex-Death Eaters, on the other hand, shunned the Malfoy family for defying Voldemort. Apparently many of them had not learned to change their traditional mindset like Draco had learned to do once he had become a healer and worked with people from all different backgrounds, along with his future wife. This was why Scorpius felt he was brought up different from the other pureblood families. His mother was always so nice to others, which is how he had learned to show everyone kindness, no matter what. His father had always joked that his change of heart was his mother’s greatest patient recovery story, but Scorpius knew it was simply because he was no longer around the biases of his own parents. It definitely took him some time, but he had learned to become more accepting.

Albus and Scorpius snapped to attention when they heard the train whistle blow.

“We need to change into our robes!” Scorpius said as the two began to scramble around putting on ties and pulling up socks.

“It’s weird to think that tonight will determine which color tie we will be wearing for the next seven years” Scorpius said as Albus was still struggling to tie his shoes. “Do you know what house you want to be in?”

“Not a clue,” Albus replied, “I don’t think I fit into any of them actually”.

“Of course you will”.

“What if I don’t belong anywhere?”

“I’m sure that won’t happen”.

“What if they send me back?”

“I don’t think they would-”

“What if they find out I’m actually a squib?” 

“Albus”.

“What if-“

“Al!” Scorpius shouted, “wherever you go, I’m sure you will love it”.

Albus knew that what Scorpius said was probably going to be true, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t terrified about the Sorting Ceremony.

“I bet you’ll be a Ravenclaw,” Albus said, gesturing to all the books that Scorpius had organized into his luggage as the train ride went on. 

“Probably not,” Scorpius said, shaking his head. “my family is full of Slytherins so I think that’s where I’m going to go”.

“But you said your dad isn’t a Death Eater anymore” Albus said.

“He isn’t, but he still has a lot of house pride. Not all Slytherins are evil, you know”.

The two were silent for a moment.

“Besides, could you imagine the uproar that would happen if I was put in Gryffindor!”

Albus felt the need to suppress a laugh. “I’m sure you would look very flattering in red”.

“And the green would really bring out your eyes if you were to join me in Slytherin”.

The both of them blushed slightly at the other's words.

“Are you trying to convert me to the dark side?” Albus jested, coughing to clear the awkward silence.

“Obviously”.

The train began to slow down in speed. The two boys both ran to the window, pressing their faces against the glass to get their first glimpses of Hogwarts. Sadly the only thing they saw was another train platform, but this one surrounded by a thick forest of tall trees with moonlight barely peeking through the canopy. The two could see a light bouncing towards them from the other end of the platform. As it got closer, Albus could see the light was actually a swinging lantern, which was followed by a huge silhouette of a man almost three times as tall as he was. There was no mistaking that shaggy graying beard that waved to him though the window before shouting... 

“First yers! First yers, this way!”


	2. Chapter 2: The Dreaded Sorting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Albus, Scorpius, and the rest of the first years finally find out which houses they are in. Someone from Harry Potter's past is announced to be a new professor, and they learn how much Hogwarts has changed since their parents attended twenty-something years ago,

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did not come up with the characters mentioned in the Cursed Child, nor do I own the rights to them, but the story I'm writing is completely my own original idea.
> 
> Hopefully a few of you see your OCs and suggestions you left on Tiki's Tok for names of first years!

No one wanted to join Scorpius and Albus in a boat across the lake.

“What’d be the problem here, Albus?” Hagrid asked, leaning down to be able to whisper at his height to the point where he was almost squatting.

“It’s nothing,” Albus said.

“Look like there’s someone over there all by himself,” Hagrid winked, “why’nt ye go say hello?”

Albus looked in the direction that Hagrid was pointing. A boy with wildly curly brown hair was alone in a boat, staring off into the shadows of the Forbidden Forest.

“Of course we will, sir” Scorpius smiled, dragging Albus towards the boat.

“Didcha hear that Rose! He called me sir!”

The duo had made their way over to the boy who was distracted by the ripples in the water. “Do you mind if we join you?” Scorpius asked, startling him slightly.

“Go ahead”

Albus and Scorpius began to step into the small wooden boat just as it magically began to sail its way towards the castle. This unfortunately caused the two of them to almost land on top of each other as they tumbled in and rocked the boat.

“At least we didn’t fall in” Scorpius laughed.

The other boy was surveying the boat wildly on all sides from his seat at the back of the boat. Albus didn’t want to laugh at him, but the boy reminded him of his dog back at home when he heard a loud noise.

“There’s no motor,” Albus told him.

“Right,” the boy looked embarrassed, “this is a magic school”.

“What’s a motor?” Scorpius whispered to Albus.

“It’s a muggle thing”.

“I guess I’m still not used to it,” the boy said.

Albus and Scorpius could tell that the boy was probably raised in the Muggle World, but neither of them wanted to ask him and sound rude.

Before they knew it, the trees along the bank of the lake cleared, giving way to the sight of the Hogwarts castle for all of the first years to gasp at. It was even more grand than the stories Albus had heard from his family. There were hundreds of windows, too many to count, each glowed like warm fires against the black stone of the castle walls and reflected along the surface of the water. The moon high in the sky created a breathtaking silhouette of the castle’s many spires and towers that they could not peel their eyes away from. The sight was so overwhelming to the first years, yet felt increasingly homie as the boats got closer and closer to the opposite shore. 

Once they were all inside the castle, though, Albus’s heart rate began to pick up its pace again. Hogwarts Houses were the only thing on his mind since his conversation with Scorpius on the train, and the next hour or so would determine how the rest of their lives at Hogwarts would be.

While climbing the excruciating number of staircases, the first year finally stopped at the largest pair of wooden doors the both of them had ever seen. Standing in front of them was a witch wearing elegant maroon robes and a matching pointed hat with a long frilled feather. She took the time to survey everyone’s face, making eye contact with each student as she smiled softly.

It was none other than Headmistress Minerva McGonagall herself.

Albus had always heard stories from James and Neville, or should he say Professor Longbottom, about Professor McGonagall. He had apparently met McGonagall a few times when he was very young, but he didn’t remember it. She used to check up on Harry, Ron, and Hermione, along with other graduated students, for a few years before her position as Headmistress began to preoccupy her life. Even though she was probably one of the oldest people at Hogwarts, she was easily the most powerful. He had heard from his dad that she was the professor that single-handedly protected the students during the Battle of Hogwarts and dueled Severus Snape in front of everyone in the Great Hall. James had always said that McGonagall was very strict, but then again he was James, and he always found a way to get on someone’s bad side.

“Good evening new students. I am Headmistress of Hogwarts, Minerva McGonagall”.

There were a few murmurs amongst the first years, which were quieted down by McGonagall raising her voice so everyone could hear.

“Now, I’m sure all of you are very excited for the Sorting Ceremony to take place and make friends in your houses, but first I must explain it for those that might feel confused”.

McGonagall paused.

“At Hogwarts, it is tradition for each student in their first year to be sorted by our sorting hat into one of the four houses that represent each of the four founders of Hogwarts. The houses are as follows: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. During your time at Hogwarts, we hope that your house will become like your family”.

The first years had once again begun to chatter excitedly as they gossiped about which house they wanted to be in.

“I will come back to collect you shortly, but I must first give my speech before I introduce you to the other students”.

The voices of the first years echoed off of the high ceiling outside the Great Hall as they all waited impatient. 

“Just so you know,” Scorpius said next to Albus, “if you are put in Gryffindor like the rest of your family, or any other house really, I’ll still be your friend”.

Albus couldn’t stop the smile spreading on his face, “The same goes with you”.

“Would you cut it with the mushy stuff!” someone next to them shouted.

The two of them turned to see a boy with long black hair and scowling, piercing, blue eyes narrowing at them. He was surrounded on each side by a girl and another boy glaring at the two of them with the same look as if they were a dead animal blocking their path.

“It’s not mushy,” Albus said rolling his eyes, “it’s called being friendly. You should try it some time”.

The boy scoffed, which caused the other two to follow him.

“Why would we want to be friends with two bloodtraitors?” the girl spat at the two of them.

These must be kids of the people that Scorpius was talking about on the train. He had mentioned how there were still children of previous Death Eaters who still believed in blood purity. He could see why Scorpius’s father had never wanted his son to become friends with them. Albus couldn’t help but wonder if this was how Draco Malfoy acted when he was their age.

“Are you people still so small-minded after all this time?” Albus replied as the other students began to get quieter around them as they watched.

“Albus, stop!” Scorpius hissed out of the corner of his mouth as he heard footsteps behind him.

Of course McGonagall’s first impression of Albus Potter was him fighting.

“They are ready for you now,” McGonagall said, opening the Great Hall’s doors once more as the procession of students followed.

When James had told Albus that the Great Hall was massive enough to fit everyone at Hogwarts in, he couldn’t really picture it. Maybe it was the hundreds of students sitting at the four long tables they passed that made the Great Hall feel enormous. It could also be from the image of the stars on the ceiling above them, similar to how mirrors in a room make it appear to be bigger than it actually is. 

McGonagall waved the first years to stay at the bottom of the four steps before she left her place at the beginning of the crowd and stood next to a three-legged stool at the top of the stairs. The students around began to whisper to each other in confusion. They all spun around as the massive Great Hall doors creaked open and an older man jogged his way past the long tables, holding a tattered bundle of cloth in his fist.

“Thank you, Mr Filch” McGonagall nodded as Filch practically threw it onto the stool. Albus could now see the object Filch had been running with was in fact the famous Sorting Hat. At that moment, it appeared to look like any ordinary wizarding hat, but he almost jolted as the hat began to shake and stretch as a mouth formed out of the flaps of fabric. Albus snuck a glance at the boy from the lake standing next to him as he looked slightly disturbed.

Albus didn’t pay attention to the hat’s song that described all of the Hogwarts Houses. He was too overwhelmed by the lines of students watching him and the other first years like hawks. It was pretty clear that none of them were paying attention to the hat’s song either, which was slightly disappointing to the hat because it was only used once a year, meaning it probably spent the entire school year and summer coming up with the song to sing for the next Sorting Ceremony.

There were students near the first years that were whispering and pointing at certain students, many of them being Albus, Scorpius, and Rose, probably trying to predict what houses they would be sorted into.

Albus finally snapped out of his train of thought after applause broke out in the Great Hall and Scorpius elbowed him in the side, slightly.

“Let us begin,” McGonagall said, smiling. She began to unroll her parchment with a list of all the first years.

“When I-”

“Go Al! Go Rose!”

“Potter! Weasley! This is not a sporting arena” McGonagall snapped as she shot daggers at James and Fred who immediately wiped their smiles off their faces.

“Now, then” McGonagall sighed, unrolling the parchment once more, “when I call your name, you will sit up here, and I will place the sorting hat on your head”.

The first years all looked terrified.

“Alkhasib, Ali”. 

The sea of first years parted so that a scared-looking boy could shove his way to the front and up the stairs. He sat on the three-legged stool placed in front of the entire school as McGonagall placed the tattered hat onto his head, covering his eyes. The entire hall was held on the edge of their seats, the silence ringing.

“How long do you think this will take?” Scorpius leaned in to whisper to Albus.

Apparently they didn’t need to wait too long because the hat somehow cleared its throat.

“RAVENCLAW!”

The boy smiled brightly and ran his way over to the table of blue.

“Bell, Julian”.

Another boy found his way to the front of the first years, the smile never leaving his face.

“I know him,” Albus whispered, “his mum and my parents were Quidditch teammates”.

“GRYFFINDOR!” the hat yelled, as the table full of scarlet-dressed students stood up and cheered as Julian Bell sat amongst them, shaking hands with any person within his reach.

McGonagall then called Andrea Blevins, who was also placed in Ravenclaw, and Ellis Bonchevsky was placed in Gryffindor.

“Burke, Cyrus”. Scorpius felt a sharp push on his shoulder as the mean-looking boy from earlier pushed his way to the front of the room.

“His grandfather owns Borgin and Burkes” they heard a student at the Hufflepuff table whisper.

“Isn’t that the dark magic shop in Knockturn Alley?”

The hat had barely touched the top of his head when it shouted “SLYTHERIN!”. Burke sneered then made his way over to the Slytherin table. 

“That was a lot faster than all of the others” they heard someone whisper behind them.

Albus knew that not all Slytherins were evil, but there were a few of them that did look just as mean as Burke. He was thankful to see that there were many smiling faces congratulating Burke. He just hoped Scorpius would not be treated badly if he were in fact placed in Slytherin.

More names were called out with Terran Burström being the first Hufflepuff. Next was another Hufflepuff, Adeline Dawson, followed by Valerie Desiree and Anouk De Ro both being placed in Ravenclaw.

“We aren’t even halfway done and most of them are Ravenclaws” Albus whispered.

“Maybe everyone’s just really smart”.

Next, Edmund Dolohov, became a Slytherin. Albus recognized him as one of them boys standing next to Burke outside the Great Hall. Taylor Dover looked slightly disappointed that she was placed in Slytherin, but was met with a kind hug from an older Slytherin girl. 

The list went on as Cassia Faye and Brennan Ferrum were both placed in Ravenclaw, followed by Michael Finch and Caroline Grace both being Hufflepuffs. Mizuki Handa, who seemed excited that she was placed in Slytherin, sat right next to Taylor. Valery Hallewell became a Hufflepuff. Madison Hatch a Ravenclaw, followed by Amethyst Hunter and Willow Ignacio being Hufflepuffs.

“Not many Gryffindors so far” someone whispered.

“That’s surprising. I thought for sure there would be way less Slytherins”.

The muggleborn from the boat, who’s name was apparently Gideon Kedzierski, had taken almost five minute under the hat and almost ran off to the Hufflepuff table after being placed in Ravenclaw.

“He must be a muggleborn” someone laughed.

“Stupid mudblood” someone behind the two of them whispered under their breath. 

Albus and Scorpius whipped their heads around trying to spot the person who said such an insulting thing, but found everyone looking at the next kid being sorted.

Altaira Lee became the next Ravenclaw, followed by Cassiopeia Lynx as the first Gryffindor girl.

“Malfoy, Scorpius”.

Albus could feel Scorpius tense up next to him. The entire hall was impossibly even more silent than it already was. Albus gave Scorpius a small nudge so he could figure out how to make his feet move to the stool. Scorpius sat down on the stool and had the hat placed on his head. The hat looked confused, at least Albus thought the hat looked confused. It was hard to tell what expression a hat could make. 

“Are you sure?” the hat said inside Scorpius’s head.

“Yes. I want to be in Slytherin”.

“Do you really, or are you doing this for your parents?” it grumbled.

Scorpius paused. Was he doing this for his parents? He knew that if he got put anywhere else he would never make friends.

“You would make an excellent Ravenclaw,” the hat said, “or maybe even a Hufflepuff. You certainly are polite enough for that”.

“No!” Scorpius almost shouted out loud, “I want to be in Slytherin”.

“Or maybe in Gryffindor. At least you’ll have one friend with you if Albus Potter also becomes a Gryffindor”.

“How did you-”

“You can’t hide anything from me,” the hat said, “I know everything you’re thinking”. Scorpius could almost hear the smirk in its voice as it spoke.

Scorpius felt like crying. Everyone was staring at him. They all seemed to care less where he was placed, but Albus was the only one giving him a reassuring smile.

“SLYTHERIN!” the hat shouted. 

Surprised, Scorpius hopped off the stool and made his way over to the Slytherin table, which was not cheering for him as loudly as they did the others, but were giving him a polite round of applause.

Mavis Mayfield was the next Hufflepuff placed, even though she spent many minutes sneaking glances over to the Slytherin table. Following next was Giselle McNarty, Milo Michaelson, and Emily Nicole all becoming Gryffindors.

Albus could feel himself becoming more and more nervous as there were less first years in the crowd around him. The last person to be sorted had a last name that started with N, which could only mean that-

“Potter, Albus”

This time, Albus didn’t have Scorpius to nudge him to make him start walking. Subtle whispers seemed to follow him as he got closer and closer to the hat.

“Ya, Al!” someone shouted from the Gryffindor table as someone was seen standing on the bench.

“Mr Potter! Sit down!” McGonagall snapped at him. James immediately sat back down.

Albus sat on the stool. The hat had just been placed on his head when it shouted;

“SLYTHERIN!”

The hall was silent, then all at once the murmurs started like a swarm of bees ringing in his ears as hundreds of eyes blinked up at him.

“A Potter in Slytherin!”

“This must be some mistake”.

“He seems so nice”.

“His dad is going to be so disappointed in him”.

Albus couldn’t pay attention to anything happening around him. The only things he could hear were his own footsteps, his pounding heart, and the thoughts jumbled in his head as he ran the rest of the way over to sit next to Scorpius.

“Raisón, Jiji” McGonagall continued.

“RAVENCLAW!”

Albus couldn’t really pay attention to the rest of his classmates being sorted. Everything around him felt like it was moving like a machine.

“Redd, Walter”: Gryffindor  
“Regrapura, Cryselas”: Slytherin  
“Rowle, Sebastian”: another Slytherin  
“Shafiq, Julia”: Hufflepuff  
“Shafiq, Zachary”: Gryffindor  
“Taylor, Natalia”: Ravenclaw  
“Thomas, Kian”: Hufflepuff  
“Warren, Matilda”: Gryffindor

One student after the next was called up to be sorted into their houses. Each one happy and excited about their futures at Hogwarts, but in that moment, Albus couldn’t have a clear picture of what his next seven years would be.

“Are you okay?” Scorpius asked, placing a reassuring hand on Albus’s shoulder.

Albus couldn’t respond because his lips felt numb. His brain didn’t feel able to form complete thoughts. Was he okay? He was with Scorpius now, but at what cost? Would his family hate him? 

He looked over at James at the Gryffindor table. He made eye contact with him immediately because James and the rest of his Gryffindor friends were all staring at him from across the room. All of them glanced away as soon as they discovered that they had been spotted. James was the only one that had given him an awkward smile as he looked back up at the front of the room.

“Albus?” Scorpius whispered.

Albus finally teared his distracted gaze away from their spot on the table and instead found himself staring into Scorpius’s grey eyes, so full of kindness and worry. It sounded silly, but it was in that moment that Albus knew that he was going to be alright. He had Scorpius by his side, and that was enough. All his house meant was a place to sleep and a colored tie, it didn’t make sense for everyone to be so caught up in labeling a person because of their house, and if that meant that Albus was going to have to teach his family, and everyone else at Hogwarts, that, then so be it. 

“Weasley, Rose”

James didn’t cheer on Rose as loudly this time. Instead it was Fred and their friend Ottis who filled the awkward silence with whoops and cheers.

“Mr Weasley! Mr Wright! For once can the three of you be respectful!”

Rose of course was scowling at them until the hat got placed on her head and her eyes were no longer visible.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

The Gryffindors erupted in applause as Rose happily made her way over to join her cousins.

“Of course the Mudblood Minister’s kid is a goody-two-shoes Gryffindor” Albus heard Burke scoff with Dolohov and Sebastian Rowle. Apparently Burke had acquired another goon. The three of them laughed, then looked over at Albus as if they expected him to defend his cousin. 

“That’s not funny,” Scorpius shockingly defended.

“Wolfe, Arik”

Burke sneered. “Would you look at that, a Malfoy and Potter friendship. Looks like both of your lives are finally over”.

“HUFFLEPUFF!”

Albus could feel his teeth vibrating from how hard he was clenching his jaw. “Is that supposed to be a threat, Burke?”

“Wood, Annelise”

Burke narrowed his eyes and grimaced as he began to pick the lint off of the sleeve of his robe in disgust. “I just find it highly amusing that the five of us are going to be in the same dormitory for the next seven years”.

“GRYFFINDOR!”

The Slytherin trio glanced at the newly-Gryffindor girl who was waving frantically to her dad sitting at the Professor’s table as she herself sat next to Rose.

“Zabini, Lilith”

Burke finally snapped to attention as he heard the last name that was called.

“SLYTHERIN!”

Burke shot Albus and Scorpius another haunting sneer before turning his attention to the girl making her way over to the three of them. She stood in front of Dolohov and Rowle with her hands on her hips and impassionately stared down the two of them. They both looked at each other questioningly before Zabini rolled her eyes, shoved the two of them to the side, and plopped herself right next to Burke.

“That took forever!” she spat, rolling her eyes.

The voices in the Great Hall began to get louder as the students noticed that she was the last first year to be sorted. Filch hobbled over to the front of the room as the distraction took place and quickly ran the stool and hat out of the room, wheezing his entire way down the path between the long tables. Everyone began to quiet down as they heard the loud chime of McGonagall ringing a spoon against a glass to get everyone's attention. 

The Headmistress cleared her throat as she stood before the awaiting students, “Without further or do, I would like to officially welcome you all to another year at Hogwarts. Congratulations to all of our new first year students for finding your new families here at our school. I hope your next seven years here will be nothing but magical in every way”.

Albus could see all around him that the Slytherins were becoming impatient with the thought of a Hogwarts dinner so close.

“Now before I introduce our staff, I wish to remind you that the Forbidden Forest is strictly out of bounds to all students as well as staff, except for our Groundskeeper Professor Hagrid”.

Hagrid, having heard his name, was now waving frantically at Rose and James’s Gryffindor friends. Albus thought he was smiling because his eyes crinkled with delight, but it was hard to tell because his smile was covered by his shaggy beard. To his surprise, Hagrid also waved at the two of them, with Scorpius waving back with even more enthusiasm. 

“Professor Hagrid has also, this year specifically, asked me to remind you that the Great Lake is not meant for swimming, especially in the nude-”

A few whistles and hoots of laughter could be heard from the Gryffindor table as many of them were high-fiving James, Fred, and Ottis with an annoyed Rose being jostled around by the other students.

“Need I remind you that classes don’t officially start until tomorrow, yet I will not hesitate to take points away from my own house”.

All of the Gryffindors immediately stopped their celebration and stared down at the table, knowing perfectly well that McGonagal would go through with her promise.

“I believe that is all regarding dangerous areas at Hogwarts. Now, due to Professor Tarkin’s recent retirement, I would like you all to welcome our new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gawain Robards”.

There was a polite round of applause as a cleanly-dressed man stood at his seat near the Slytherin table. He bowed his head in acknowledgement, but then glared directly at Albus after he sat down.

“Oh no!” Albus groaned as he turned his face away from Robards stare.

“What is it?” Scorpius asked.

“Robards used to be head of the Auror Department”.

“Isn’t your dad head of the Auror Department?”

“Yep” Albus said sarcastically as he quietly banged his head on the table, “He replaced Robards after claiming that he was ‘using his title in a dishonorable way that didn’t keep the public safe’” he mumbled through air quotes.

“Finally, without further ado,” they heard McGonagall call over the dying applause, “let the first feast of the school year begin”.

Right as McGonagall said those words, each of the four tables were filled with platters of food. Scorpius had to pull Albus’s head off of the table or it would have ended up in a bowl of mashed potatoes.

The both of them stared wide-eyed at all of the food before them. Albus had not seen this much food since Christmas at the Burrow. Scorpius was already daintely cutting away at a slice of ham with his fork and knife when he noticed Albus trying to choose what to put on his place first.

“You know you eat with your mouth and not your eyes, right?” Scorpius joked, his eyebrow raised. Albus only shoved his face away before helping himself to a drumstick.

It definitely tasted nothing like the chicken Grandma Molly would make for the yearly Weasley Christmas party. Albus knew that Aunt Hermione didn’t always approve of using house elves to cook at Hogwarts, but they certainly knew how to do it well. Especially now that most of them were treated as paid employees under McGonagall.

“I’m most excited for the quidditch games this year” Albus heard Scorpius saying to another student. It had already been less than five minutes into the dinner and he was already drawing people in with his friendly personality.

“I’d love to play,” he continued, “but I know that first years can’t try out for the house team”.

Albus could only assume that him and the girl he was talking to were discussing Quidditch. 

She sighed, “I always hated that rule, but there’s always next year”.

“Are you on the team?” Albus chimed in as the girl smiled.

“Yep! I’m a chaser. I also run the Quidditch Club with a few other players from different houses so that everyone that isn’t on the team can have a chance to play a bit”.

The girl then reached over Scorpius and grabbed Albus’s hand, shaking it as she introduced herself.

“I’m Isabel Córdoba, by the way”.

Albus didn’t feel the need to introduce himself, but he did it anyway out of courtesy.

“There’s a Quidditch Club?” Scorpius asked Isabel excitedly.

“When I was a first year, I heard from a seventh year that after McGonagall became the Headmistress, students started making more clubs at school to pass the time”.

Isabel laughed to herself, “I’m also part of the Ping Pong Club, which is the most popular one at school. Besides Quidditch Club, obviously”.

“I didn’t know that there were muggle sports clubs at Hogwarts” Albus said, slightly impressed.

“There are a few” Isabel replied, taking a bite of her dinner roll, “Áine Finnigan and Rowan Thomas started the Football club a few years ago, and I’ve heard that there’s also a secret swimming club that meets in the prefect’s bath”.

“Well you better cancel those unless you want to find Potter and Malfoy snogging in the bathroom!” the three of them heard Burke shout from down the table, causing Dolohov, Rowle, and Zabini to laugh hysterically.

“Are all Slytherins like this?” Albus asked Isabel to stop himself from fighting with the other first year Slytherins.

“Of course not!” Isabel said, shaking her head, “although, there are a few that are still extreme with their biases,” she glanced over at the group of sneering first years before rolling her eyes, “but they tend to keep to themselves”.

\---

By the time most of the students were done with dinner, the students were happily chatting amongst their friends and housemates about their summer.

Scorpius, who had somehow eaten more than Albus thought even Teddy could, gave out a large burp. He covered his mouth and looked around at everyone, surprised, but no one was paying attention due to all of them being involved in their own conversations. Albus’s fork clattered to his plate as he gaped at his friend in disbelief, but also trying not to burst out laughing.

“I can’t eat any more,” Scorpius sighed, only for the desserts to appear in front of them.

His eyes shifted up and down the table at the row of sweets and pastries before them. “Actually- Is that chocolate cake? Nevermind!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave kudos and comments!


End file.
